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>On Being Caught Up

>The past few weeks have been all about the kids. Zach turning 6 months old, getting Ev started with a therapist…

Zach had his 6-month well-child visit today, during which the entire fam got flu vaccines (yes, even Zach). Except for me: I had to either get mine or sign a waiver the first week of October. Aside from the flu vax, Zach got 3 other immunizations. Poor baby! But we also got the good news–there is not a single bit of evidence of his prematurity. He has surpassed his 4-month developmental milestones and his 6-month ones as well. They still evaluate him based on both gestational age and chronological age. For height and weight, he fell somewhere in between the 50th and 75th percentile, compared to the 25th at last check. I cannot believe this since the kiddo is huge to us: 18 pounds,12 ounces and 25 inches long! But we are comparing him to Evan, who was a very scrawny 15.5 pounds at one year old!

As a matter of fact, Zach is so caught up and doing so well that we are nixing the RSV vaccination. He met all of the criteria for it, and we were seriously considering it. On one hand, he doesn’t go to daycare and thus is not exposed to other kids, is far from being the frail little preemie, and more. On the other hand, in my line of work, I could easily bring it home to him from work, he really is a preemie despite his size, and he has a big bro in school. Of less consequence to me was the cost ($1500 a shot, and a shot monthly during RSV season) of which I had no idea how much insurance would cover) because I really didn’t care if he needed it. But the consensuss is that he doesn’t!

So anyhow, I can quit the worrying/ guarding/ counting/ adjusting/ blaming myself that comes with being a mom of a preemie. My preemie has surpassed some of his full-term peers!